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Role and significance of sacraments
Role and significance of sacraments
Sacraments An Essay
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Archdiocesan Essay Assessment Activity Catholics are often asked questions like, “Why are you catholic,” “Why do you have to be catholic,” Aren’t all religions as good as one another?” and “What makes the catholic religion special and different than the others?’ And members of the Church often find it difficult to answer all these questions. This essay will answer what it means to say that to be a catholic is to be a member of the one true Church of Christ, an explanation of how Christ willed that the Catholic Church be his sacrament of salvation, an explanation of how courts established his Church as both a visible and spiritual reality, I will illustrate how all people are offered the possibility of salvation through the Catholic Church …show more content…
We know this because the Church is a sign and instrument of the Grace of God. The Church makes visible the salvation of Christ. If we see the Church as a sacrament, then we can more clearly see it’s mission which is to make disciples of all nations. Christ established his Church as both a visible and spiritual reality. The Church is both spiritual and physical. We can see the physical aspect in the priests, deacons, bishops, cardinals, the pope, the physical church building, crosses, crucifixes and many other items or people. We can see the community of believers but there are aspects that we cannot see. This is the spiritual reality aspect. The Church being both spiritual and physical is a mystery this divine aspect cannot be seen and is hard to believe but it is built on the visible reality and only faith can accept it. All people are offered the possibility of salvation through the Catholic Church. We know this because of the marks of the Church. The marks of the church are one, holy, catholic and apostolic. The one that relates to this is Catholic. The word catholic means universal. Universal implies that the church is at all times and in all places. This means that if it is at all times and all places that is is for everyone. Salvation can be achieved through the Catholic Church, which we have already mentioned is at all times and places to salvation can be achieved at all times and all places for all people because it is
Chapter one, ‘Beginnings at Assisi,’ offers a vivid description of the social, political, economic, cultural, demographic description of Assisi and its inhabitants. Here, the author describes the life of Francis and the situations and circumstances prompting his journey to spread the ideal gospel life to the world. This chapter is relevant in determining the circumstances that instigated a need for reforms in the Catholic Church. This chapter is applicable in my life because it offers insight on the fundamental Christian I can rely on in my daily life.
Elected in 1958 as a ‘caretaker Pope’, Pope John XXIII implemented the greatest reforms in the Church’s history. His involvement within the Church had played a significant contribution to the reforming of social, political and liturgical Christian traditions. During the early twentieth century, the Catholic Church still held the century old conservative beliefs and traditions as they continued to separate the Church from the secular world, therefore, disadvantaging the Church to a world that was modernising. In addition to this, the Church restricted modernist thoughts due to the belief that new theologies would threaten the power and authority of the Church, but ...
Saunders, William P. Straight Answers: Answers to 100 Questions about the Catholic Faith. Baltimore, MD: Cathedral Foundation, 1998. Print.
highlights the importance of the sacraments and the clergy, can be seen as a response on
The first is that of the priest, who delivers the messages of Jesus during Mass. The priest becomes a symbol for the Catholics because otherworldly spirits are able to pass through and are amid the living for a short period of time. Furthermore, the pope of Rome is similar to the priest in that he becomes the embodiment of God. Though they are similar in this way, the pope of Rome is the head of the church and his words are equivalent to the words of the Bible. This representation provided an additional belief to the Catholics, both being in scripture and in church. In addition, the church became a symbol of belief, “Indeed, Catholic tradition put spirit and matter together by understanding the church as the Mystical Body of Christ” (pg. 66). With all these together, there is a functioning society within
In de-emphasizing the role of the Church, it’s rituals, and offices, and supplanting them with a more direct and personal approach to God and spirituality; the Protestant Reformation, through the works of Martin...
Through the close study of two of the aspects shown in the diagram, their contributions allow Christianity to be considered a living religious tradition. The significant contributions of Pope John XXIII, during both his papal and Pre-papal life have had everlasting effects on not only Catholicism, but Christianity as a whole and lead to the sense of Christianity being a living religious tradition. His works include two Papal encyclicals, Mater et Magistra and Pacem in Terris, along with his work being Apostolic Delegate of Greece and Turkey. Moreover, The significant practice of Baptism has further contributed to Christian being considered a living religious tradition as it accounts for the premise of most Christian beliefs to be initiated, especially in terms of salvation and affirming the beliefs in the trinity and following the teachings of Jesus Christ.
US Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Complete Edition ed. N.p.: US. Catholic Church, n.d. Print.
It is this lack of knowledge that gives rise to inaccurate claims about Catholicism. Catholicism is viewed as an impersonal relationship between God and man. This misguided assumption stems from the 16th century belief that only the religious officials had the right and ability to interpret the Word of God, the Bible. In the past, Catholics gained their knowledge of the Lord during mass on Sundays. Priests and other officials studied the Bible and communicated with God through prayer then relayed the message to the people of the church. This way of interaction with God was like going to a foreign country and not being able to speak the national language. Priests acted as a translator, speaking directly to both God and man. Just as with a translator, the personal connection made between God and man is limited. Some of the emotion is lost in translation; nevertheless, the message gets through. This tradition was...
At the beginning of the sixteenth century church theologian, Martin Luther, wrote the 95 Theses questioning the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. In this essay I will discuss: the practices of the Roman Catholic Church Martin Luther wanted to reform, what Martin’s specific criticism of the pope was, and the current practices Pope Francis I is interested in refining in the Roman Catholic Church today.
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 21, 2010 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org
The doctrine of the church is ecclesiology, which comes from the greek word church - human beings who are like Christ. This doctrine is a doctrine for the universal church. We sometimes enter a singular way of talking about our culture when the bible speaks in plurality. Ecclesiology gives us the basis of our belief and marks of the church which gives us clarity of what it means to be “one holy catholic and apostolic.” The church bears four marks: Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity. These four marks are the truth about the church. We must act in Unity because the church is one, 1 Corinthians 12:12 say “Just as the body is one and as many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” The Holiness is a inheritance given to us by Christ. However we can not achieve that alone. As we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit, He actualizes that for us. Catholicity is the universality and wholeness the church, making room for people to enter the body of Christ. Lastly is apostolicity which is about the authority and truth, and the authority of the apostles is in their eyewitness testimony of Jesus (2 Peter 1:16). The church teaches about the apostles truth that is true to the gospel of Jesus
The ideal of unity seems to be of great importance in the religious world, but rarely is it ever achieved among professed Christians. However, it is vitally important to comprehend unity in its Biblical light. Jesus prayed in John 17:21, “That they all may be one, as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” By definition, unity is the state of being one. In order to have a unified church every member must be one one with the Father and the Son. Subsequently, to achieve such an oneness, each member must be perfectly holy, because God is holy. Unfortunately, this is where a clear contrast is made between the saints and mere religious professors.
Turner, William. (March 1, 1907) The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume I, online edition. Retrieved February 2, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01713a.htm